A woman waited for four hours for an ambulance to arrive after falling in the street.

The woman looked to be in agony as she sat in a seat outside Specsavers waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

The ambulance was called at around 11.30am on Tuesday, September 25. A Lives first responder attended at around 3pm followed by an ambulance at 3.30pm.

Concerned shoppers and passers-by approached Lincolnshire Live after spotting the woman sat in the cold for some hours.

One said: “The woman has been sat there for a couple of hours. I offered her a drink but she’s been told she isn’t allowed to drink by emergency call takers. She said she is getting cold. She said she is in pain from her fall.”

A Lives responder arrived soon after 3pm

The woman who had the accident was accompanied by a man who waited with her until the ambulance finally arrived.

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It is understood the man wanted to take her to hospital but was advised not too until she was asscessed.

Another concerned shopper said: “She looked like she was in a lot of pain. The ambulance crew seemed to give her gas and air before trying to put her on a stretcher.

"I understand the hospitals are stretched and believe this woman was unable to make her own way there as she was in pain and told not to move due to falling but it’s becoming a joke how many people are left waiting. Something needs to be done before there’s a real tragedy."

East Midlands Ambulance Service apologised to the patient for her wait and confirmed the call was made to the emergency services at 11.29am.

The ambulance arrived four hours later

Richard Hunter, paramedic and ambulance operations manager for Lincolnshire, said: “There are times during high demand when patients with minor injuries may experience delays for which we are sorry.

"We, like other NHS organisations are currently very busy and our crews are experiencing handover delays at the local hospital which does impact our response. When our crews are waiting at hospital for them to accept their patient they aren’t able to help patients who are waiting in the community."

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United Lincolnshire Hospitals’ Trust, which runs the Pilgrim Hospital, said there had been a ‘rise in demand on A&E'.

A spokesman added: “At times this has resulted in our inability to see, treat and admit patients as quickly as we would like.

“During these busy times we always prioritise the sickest patients to ensure appropriate care is given, however for some this will mean that they will invariably experience long waits for which we apologise.

“It is unfortunate that we cannot always release the ambulances as quickly as we would like. When under these pressures we do work very closely with our colleagues in the ambulance service to support the ambulance turnaround as rapidly as possible.

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“We ask the public to support the hospitals by thinking carefully before attending A&E, as we know 30 per cent of people who visit our A&Es could be seen or treated by services outside of the hospital. Such as a pharmacy, a GP or practice nurse, GP out of hours service, local urgent care and minor injury services or NHS 111.”